Kh'err'akh'an
Kh'err'akh'an (last name unknown, presumed part of his first name) is an Archon in the Kabal of Shadows after he betrayed the Archon in the Kabal of Death. He is an Omega level (in the Imperium's terms) negative psionic level (a Blank). This occurs at approximately one-in-a-billion humans, and would be much rarer in an Eldar (even Dark), as they are such a race. In being so, he has no presence in the warp (not even his soul). This has many advantages in battle. First and foremost, Daemons find it impossible so see him. Secondly, any psyker finds it mentally and physically painfull to be near him. Thirdly, no psychic ability can affect him (as they affect things via the warp). Fourth, in having no soul, his soul cannot be devoured by another Dark Eldar (presumably his killer) or Slaanesh. However good may come of this, his "blankness" also interferes with natural electical functions of the brain, causing, among many other things, slight mental instability. Rather than being a human Phariah, he instead uses his mental powers to block out all psychic effects in his area. Unlike many other Omega level negative-psykers, a Blank can be caused by random mutation, not just through the Phariah Gene. This random mutation, ironically believed to be caused by exposure to warp energies in one of his parents, has allowed him to be a Blank. Early Life His family was unknown even to Kh'err'akh'an. What is known is that he was found dumped upon a Hamonculus' doorstep, who took him in to become an apprentice. After a few years, he grew tired of constant tortures, and he ran away to join the Kabal of Death. It is unknown how one character such as this survived on Commoragh, as such hatred and disgust would have made him the target of every competitive Dark Eldar, as every Eldar feels emotions on a greater scale than any human, although as his own abilities harm any psyker, and the Dark Eldar are a somewhat psychic race (after most of it was lost in the fall), any who came close to him would feel an aura of pain. It would serve as a deterrent for would-be-killers. Untill he joined the Kabal of Death, when he had at least four assasination attempts a raid. This perhaps was a fault of his Archon. Rather than admitting him into the Kabal of Death as an ordinary Warrior, a Dark Eldar version of a bearucratic stuffup and meddling from his Archon had Kh'err'akh'an admitted as a Sybarite, the previous Sybarite of his new unit having been lost in a raid against an Imperial Fortress World. Drachon Kh'err'akh'an Realising his value as a potent Psyker hunter, he was promoted to the rank of Drachon after only four raids. His mental instability made it near-impossible that he would attempt to ursurp his role, giving the Archon not only a powerful specialist, but an expendable pawn with much reduced risk of ursurpation (always a plus, as an Archon has much more to worry about from his/her immediate subordinates than an external attack). His wargear chosen for his role reflected his specialisation in Psyker/Eldar hunting. From the very beginning, Kh'err'akh'an showed extreme tactical acumen, through seeing hallucinations and hearing voices which told him of the best possible action in any given situation. An Error of Calculation His Archon had miscalculated, however, and during a major engagement against Tau Empire forces, Dracon Kh'err'akh'an begun to dream that it was he who deserved the right to rule the Kabal, that he deserved to rule the entire Dark Eldar race because of his own powers, and even begun dreaming of becoming an immortal god of the Dark Eldar, one whom all of Commoragh would unite behind and enslave all live in the galaxy. It was not power he saw through these dreams, but the gift of immortality. As he could not renew his life force by devouring the souls of those who he slew, he would be stuck with a standard length life of any Eldar (long but not forever). His first step, he decided, would be to sieze control of the Kabal, and name it a name which he believed would be "feared as a wrathful Chaos God across Commoragh". With such dreams of immortality in his mind, he turned his head and stared at his Archon fighting a few feet away from him, targeting him with the neural targeters implanted into his helmet. A flash of ancient energies burst from his Tormentor Helm, splinters flashing across the field, one burying itself in the neck of his superior. The other four Dracons fighting each saw the Archon sink to the ground in what appeared death, and a war between each five Dracons and their forces broke out, allowing the Tau to retreat from the massacre, while the forces fighting under the command of the Archon killed each other. Eventually, a bloodied Archon Kh'err'akh'an, no longer a Dracon, emerged as the sole survivor, taking command of the survivors, renaming them the Kabal of Shadows, to return to Commoragh to plot to cause as much death, pain and suffering as possible. Archon Kh'err'akh'an As an Archon, Kh'err'akh'an is one of the most unpredictable all recorded Archons. He enjoys engineering destructions of entire worlds, simply because it "amuses him", but even so, he is looking for three "books", ancient tomes which he believed could grant him immortality: 1. The Book of Pain 2. The Book of Death 3. The Book of Power None now alive remembers where the books came from, and they could even (and likely do) predate the Fall, or they could be a cruel trick to granting posession of the individual. Kh'err'akh'an knows that, but does not fear it, as to be posessed, you must first have a soul. His own personal mental take on Slaanesh also sets him apart. Unlike probably every other Dark Eldar (not that any would admit it), he does not fear Slaanesh, rather hating "it" (who technically has no specific gender) for destroying the kingdoms of his ancestors, and as such, can occasionally be seen coming to the rescue of a planet attacked by Chaos. Such respite for the defenders does not last, however, as most mysteriously dissapear after, presumably to a fate far worse than death. War with the Oresh'uan Sept This war became notable due to the fact that it was the first battle Kh'err'akh'an lost, resulting in a minor Tau victory, and proving he wasn't undefeatable. The battle triggered during an extensive space search for the any of the three anicent tomes, Kh'err'akh'an's keys to immortality, the operation spanned huge gulfs of space, the ships scanning every world and lump of rock for any sign of the tomes. Eventually after much wasted time, and finding not a clue to the tome's location, he and his fleet found themselves in Tau Space. After sucessfully evading all Air Caste detection systems, a splinter of his fleet landed on the planet of Oresh'uan, while the rest stayed within a safe distance of the world. The Dark Eldar went unoticable for approximatley two hours and six minutes before the air caste's systems shook off the scrambling beacons, and the entire fire warrior battle force present on the planet, including Shas'o Aures, and the team members present on the planet: Vre'Mat'au, Vre'Ornesu, El'Kyan'al and Vre'Arasan were sent, and surrounded the dark eldar, resulting in a perfect flank. But what the Tau didn't know, is that the rest of the Dark Eldar were in space, and the fleet surrounded the Tau, they had no escape. After Shas'O Aures heard the news, he had to make every move count. He knew some information about Kh'err'akh'an's past, he knew he was dangerous, it took a large amount of calculation to counter his seemingly unbreakable tactics. The final hour had begun, and perfect timing could only bring victory to the Tau. An air caste orbital bombardament was called in to deal with the Dark Eldar in the centre, but still blood was shed equally on both sides, while neither showed any signs of victory, but it was out of sheer venegence and faith in the greater good, that brought victory. The trigger of the turn was the death of Shas'vre Arasan. While Aures and Arasan were surrounded by Dark Eldar warriors, fighting back to back, a splinter round dipped in a lethal concoction of poison pierced Arasan's head armour, and entered his brain. Even though he was instantly killed, it wasn't brutal or horrific enough for the Dark Eldar, and the poison led to his head exploding. Aures was shook heavily by the incident, but before losing hope, glaced back at his bonding knife, knowing that even after death, they were brothers, and stood his ground, fighting meter by meter. Almost instantly Kh'err'akh'an saw the battle turn against him, and the commander's sudden confidence, and knowing, that taking the time to kill the alien would cost more time than any other benifits, likely leaving him stranded and captured by the Tau, the same fate which befell his father years before on a different battlefield and a different time. His own warriors were close to exhaustion as it was, their normally indomitable endurance brought down from hours of desperate, short ranged firefights. He called a retreat to preserve his remaining forces, his entire fleet entered the webway, and vanished. Triont Subsector Massacre This battle was Kh'err'akh'an's first meeting with the Imperium and, to this day, his most infamous. 50,000 confirmed Imperial soldiers killed or taken captive, including 20 members of the Deathwatch, 750 members of the Adeptus Astartes, with Guardsmen from the PDF's making up half of the total losses and a rescuing Regiment making up the final amount. It was named such because the destruction spread almost at random throughout an entire Subsector. When Imperials unburied a strange device undoubtably Eldar in origin on the ice world of Halhem, it was accidently activated by a team of Imperial Guardsmen securing the area as the Ordo Xenos and the Adeptus Mechanicus was flying through the warp to investigate. On Commorragh, Kh'err'akh'an had also detected the activation and gathered his forces for an invasion. Three days afterwards, the Adeptus Mechanicus had arrived and was investigating the device, having almost decided the Eldar Artiface was a link to the Webway and were preparing it for destruction, when Kh'err'akh'an launched a surprise attack. Large numbers of the Kabal of Shadows swept out, killing everything standing. None of the Imperials around the Webway Portal were believed to have survived the surprise assault. The numbers of Dark Eldar which poued out over the next hour are estimated to be at least four thousand standard Warriors with mercenaries from other Kabals and Cults and higher ranks making up another six thousand. Pressing their advantage, the Kh'err'akh'an swept through several underground cities as a diversionary tactic to prevent the PDF from marshalling their full strength. With defeat becoming more and more likely, the PDF resorted to open combat. A field battle they hoped to cripple Kh'err'akh'an's forces and prevent him from being able to carry off any more civilians. Badly outmanuvered and outnumbered, Equipment Kh'err'akh'an had, in his years as a Dracon, acess to the full armoury of his Kabal, limited only by the knowledge that outdoing his Archon would mean death. When he ursurped the position of Archon, however, he was under no such restrictions. Using all his resources, he equipped himself with what he viewed as the most powerful equipment souls could buy. His full list: *'Klaive' The blade is believed to be made out of a single red diamond, and it has only rarely failed to kill a foe. Unknown to everyone else, the staff has a solid core of the same anti-psyker substance used to make his Hell Mask. No psyker can bear its touch. It also has many antipsychic transmission sections which boost Kh'err'akh'an's warp-stability. *'Hell Mask' Kh'err'akh'an's Hell Mask is a curious oddity. It is made out of a anti-psychic material similar to the rounds in a Psycannon, but twisted and corrupted by pure evil. Underneath a layer of deep-blue paint, it is inscribed with uncountable symbols of psionic warding. It amplifies his own "Blank Effect", as it has been dubbed, making few beings brave enough to even meet his gaze. For a Psyker, meeting his gaze would be nothing short of suicide, as the overwhelming waves of pain can kill a lesser psyker meeting his gaze instantly. *'Combat Drugs' Used to augument his performance against his worst opponents. *'Shadow Field Generator' His only reason for staying alive despite travelling to the most terrible war zones in existence. It can be detached to prevent a critical overheat causing injury as well as assisting cooling, a function often used when the shots start flying. *'Daemon Weapon' After meeting Savark, he added a Daemon Sword to his weaponry. Actually a Daemon Claymore, this sword is possessed by a Greater Daemon of Tzeentch. By being in his presence, it is driven into a blind frenzy feeding both of his own evil and forever in a state resembling pain from his Blank field. In battle, it will lash out at any living being it can sense (Kh'err'akh'an himself is immune to it), imbuing each strike with pain great enough to incapacitate a Chapter Master. *'Dark Grenade' Using all of his ingenious and somewhat insane brain cells, he managed to combine a human Blind Grenade with a Xenospasm and a Haywire Grenade. His backup weapon in case something goes wrong. On average, he uses one each day. *'Fur (or skin) Cloak' Kh'err'akh'an usually wears for no other reason than enhancing his silhouette and "looking better". On the back is the symbol of the Kabal of Shadows, and it is currently wondered by some xenologisticans as to whether it actually is fur or cleverly tanned human skin. *'Animus Vitae' Kh'err'akh'an uses this to capture high-ranking opponents. With such great artifices of evil at his disposal, it was no wonder how, with his Blank abilities, would be (in theory) powerful enough to slay a Bloodthirster or an Avatar of Khaine (they are Daemons of Khaine), or a legion of Nurglings. It has also been theorised that a Blank blocks and even destroys psychic energies. In theory a daemon whose physical body is destroyed in the presence of the Blank would be permanently killed. This may also include an Avatar of Khaine. Personality and Traits Unlike most Dark Eldar, Kh'err'akh'an does not go wild with slaughter during the heat of battle, instead, he has a detached, almost uninterested personality throughout a fight. He loses the look reminiscent of his Incubi against his stronger challengers, rather fighting with whatever is available whenever it is available. Out of battle, he is utterly cold and emotionless, focused upon whatever task he may have, remaining observent of his surroundings at the time. Kh'err'akh'an's views on the humans are largely unique. He has fought enough humans to see himself mirrored upon some of the nastier, spiteful types, such as Puritan Inquisitors. A peculiar trait is for him to call decorated humans as just "humans", unlike the others of his race calling them the "mon-keigh". As such, it's something of an lesser-known honour for Kh'err'akh'an to call a human such. Flaws Kh'err'akh'an's greatest flaw is his greatest strength. Kh'err'akh'an is unable to regenerate his youth through devouring a soul, which appears to be a side-effect of him being a Blank. As a direct result, Kh'err'akh'an is unable to reverse his ageing process in the ordinary way for a Dark Eldar. Compensating for this, Kh'err'akh'an has been taking rare chemicals which have a much weaker effect, only delaying the onset of old age rather than reversing it. Kh'err'akh'an has recently devoted all available effort into locating the three books, which some have interpreted as a sign Kh'err'akh'an is nearing the end of his biological life. Friends and Foes "Friends" Savark Von Andranas. Unknown how those two met, but Savark giving Kh'err'akh'an a Daemon Sword sucured an alliance. Kh'err'akh'an allied himself to stop three other Chaos Gods after his throat. Although binding the contract in blood had no affect whatsoever upon the Archon, but he resolved to protect him from Kh'err'akh'an's own soldiers, because he could see instances where what truly was an accident or done without his consent would be taken otherwise by Savark's warband or even Savark himself. Around Savark, Kh'err'akh'an puts on a happy, eager mood to stop doubts about him forming in Savark's mind. Avraki the Tainted Foes *'Aran Typerion' *'Oresh'uan Sept' *'Slaanesh' *'Most existing Daemons' Quotes By About Feel free to add your own quotes about him here Category:Dark Eldar Category:Characters Category:Dark Eldar of note